William Donahey

(19 October 1883 - 2 February 1970, USA)

William Donahey was an artist who drew 'The Teenie Weenies' from 1912 to 1970, with gaps. The strip appeared in The Chicago Tribune and the New York Sunday News, among others. Prior to 'The Teenie Weenies', Donahey did a Sunday page for young children in The Cleveland Plain Dealer. He was hired by Chicago Tribune editor Joseph M. Patterson to set up the Tribune's comics section. Donahey's strip, inspired by 'The Brownies' of Palmer Cox, was done in the form of a text accompanying a single large picture.

The feature first appeared in the women's section of the newspaper, on 14 June 1912, in black and white. It soon appeared in color in the paper's comics page, as a strip cartoon. It was transferred tot he regular Sunday comics section in 1923. The comic was also collected in several books, published by Reilly & Lee. Donahey drew the strip until his retirement in 1969. William Donahey has also illustrated several children's books, and did another comic in 1925, 'The Pixeys'.